1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to communication systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a communications system and method for budgeted payment of communication services using stored information in the communication system.
2. Description of Prior Art:
Pre-paid telephone services is one form of budgeted telephone calling which enable a customer to budget and control telephone calling expenditures in advance of calling. One example of such service is a pre-paid calling card which is issued in a given monetary amount and/or calling time after payment by the customer. When the card amount or time is expended, the customer is required to repurchase another card which may be inconvenient and time consuming.
Another form of such budgeted service is a pre-paid calling time or amount stored in a communication system which is debited as the calling time is expended. A customer is required to make arrangements with the communications system to renew the calling time which, again, may be inconvenient and time consuming. What is needed is a budgeted calling amount, pre-paid or post paid, uniquely related to a caller's telephone number, the budgeted amount being stored in a communications system which automatically provides the caller with pre-defined options for renewing or terminating the budgeted amount prior to or after the amount has been expended.
Prior art related to budgeted telephone calling service includes the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,275 issued Nov. 10, 1987, discloses a telephone system enabling pre-payment for telephone calls wherein a special code and credit information is stored in special exchanges and debited as the call progresses. The call is disconnected when the pre-payment amount has been spent without any automatic arrangement for renewing the pre-payment amount.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,155 issued Nov. 23, 1993, and 5,440,621 issued Aug. 8, 1995, disclose a method for storing telecommunication time data representative of a pre-purchased amount in a network. A telecommunications connection is established between first and second telecommunication devices. When the connection is terminated, the time duration of the connection is measured. The stored telecommunication time data is processed to indicate a decrement in the available time which is essentially equal to the measured time duration of the connection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,335 issued Oct. 4, 1994, discloses a pre-paid telephone system in which a telephone user buys a predetermined amount of service beforehand and receives a card imprinted with the unique account number. A plurality of toll-free access numbers allow the user to access a pre-paid telephone system. Each of those numbers causes the pre-paid system to interact with the user if the user has enough available credit to pay for at least a minimal amount of calling time, a call is completed. A timer is set with the amount of calling time permitted by the available balance. The timer runs during the course of the phone call and the call is disconnected when the timer runs out. If the call is ended prior to the timer running out, a new available balance is computed in light of the time remaining on the timer. The user can make additional phone calls using the new available credit balance.
None of the prior art discloses a communications system including budgeted calling amounts uniquely identified with a caller for directly calling a called party without using a special toll number or credit card, the budgeted amounts being stored in the system and debited as calling connections take place whereupon the system provides automatic predefined courses of action for pre-paid or post paid service for call completion upon expenditure of the budgeted amount in extending or renewing the budgeted amount or terminating the budgeted calling services.